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4 Verses That Show God Loves Animals Way More Than We Think

I was watching one of those Planet Earth documentaries on the National Geographic channel the other day and couldn’t help but wonder on the existence of giraffes. This thought quickly got out of hand (like most of mine do) and my mind began to wonder about not only giraffes but kangaroos, penguins, elephants, rhinos, blue whales and sasquatches. They really don’t have a lot of predators besides humans but that’s mainly for fur and skins, not for consumption. I mean you’ll have the occasional wack job who likes the taste of hammerhead shark but for the most part it seems like these animals exist primarily to keep zoos open and because they make good rugs.

So if these animals weren’t created for food, what’s their purpose? Jesus didn’t die for them and we don’t eat them but they must have a purpose, right? Yes, they do have a purpose but it may not be what you think. We see animals as walking meatsicles but how, exactly, does God see them?

God likes to look at them. He delights in their beauty and their power. Not because he’s impressed but because they’re his. They’re his creation. Now I’m not getting soft on you like a PETA apologist but I’m not a Cruela Deville either.

Although I would look good in Dalmatian fur.

Am I saying that God loves your dog as much as he loves you? Absolutely not. But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t love your dog. He just might love it more than you do. Afterall, he did make it.

#4: Luke 12.6

“Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God.”

I don’t know if you could get that same deal today but who cares, they’re just sparrows. God cares. He absolutely cares.

#3: Deuteronomy 25.4

“You shall not muzzle an ox when it is treading out the grain.”

In other words, be kind to the animal that is doing back-breaking work that you don’t have to.

#2: Exodus 23.12

“Six days you shall do your work, but on the seventh day you shall rest; that your ox and your donkey may have rest…”

“And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?”

Jonah got upset because the people of Nineveh repented of their sins. He wondered why God would show mercy to those Gentiles. God told Jonah that he had every right to show pity to those people…and their cows. Yes, the great God of the universe is concerned with even cows. By comparison, that should make us feel really good.